Nathan thompson



@niteh tetra {gaunt ffirr,

IMPROVED BOTTLE STOPPER.

SPECIFICATION.

TO ALL T0 WHOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known-that I, NATHAN THOMPSON, at present, residing at 15 Abbey Gardens street, Johns Wood, London,

a citizen of the United States of America, have invented or discovered a new and useful Stopper for the Mouths of Bottles, Jugs, and similar orifices; and I, the said NATHAN THOMPSON, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertainedin and by the following statement thereof, that is to say, in the drawings i Figure 1 is a side elevation of the stopper as a whole in the precise Figure 2 is a section through the same in the axis of the stopper.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of that end of the stopper which is capped.

Figure 4 is an elevation of the other end.

I have been led to my present invention, by the desire to produce a stopper equal in all respects, and especially as to tightness and facility of use, to the ordinary cork and superior thereto, in the facts that it is cheaper and needs no wiring or other confinement, when applied to bottles containing efiervescing liquids, and hich my invention is founded and which I have reduced to practice, is the idea of so forming form preferred by me.

the principle upon w a wooden stopper, that the pressure within the bottle shall cause it to adhere closely to the inside of the'neck of the bottle, so that in fact, the resistance to the forcing out of the stopper increases with the amount of pressure within the bottle. My stopper is therefore made as a hollow wooden cylinder, open at the end nearest the fluid and closed hermetically or nearly so, at the other end, and the pressure within the hollow forces thestopper against the neck on the principle of the well-known minieball. I prefer to make my stopper of some soft wood, such as birch or pine, the wood in long strips is to be turned to a proper size, and then to be cut into lengths as for ordinary corks,'and each length is then to be compressed so as to be one sixteenth of an inch or thereabouts, less in diameter for ordinary bottle corks, each length is then to be bored nearly through and the closed i end is .to be driven into a cap or ferrule, by preference with a flange as represented in the drawings. I prefer to make this cap of sheet-tin, (tinned iron,) and to drive the wooden cylinder into it, through a compressing die,w

so that the wood is tightly bound and held bythe cap, and also, to apply cement of boiled oil and rosin,by

preference between the cap and the closed end of the wooden cylinder, a disk of vulcanized rubber orwax, may be used as an equivalent for the cement. I next compress the cap inwards at the junction of its cylindrical,

with its flanged part. The operations for making the stopper may be performed in different order and by any proper machinery, although I prefer to use that invented by myself. The well-known cylindrical match-hon machinery, will answer well for the turning and boring if slightly modified in construction. A taper die through which thcstoppers are forced, will compress them and percussion cap or button machinery, with few modifications will form the caps, which may be nicked in or compressed around the wood, by means of three revolving disks, between which the cap is to be held and one of which is serrated and capable of being forced towardsthe 1 other two, but I wish it distinctly understood, that my invention consists in the stopper itself, irrespective of the machinery or appliances for making it or of the precise met substantially the same article w I also makes the wood less permeable to moisture; the hollow permits further compression so-that the stopper may hod of construction or manufacture, so long as it is hen completed. The compression of the wood ensures its swelling when in use and i be driven .into a bottle neck smaller than the cork. The cement insures the tightness, of the closed end of the stopper, and the cap acts to protect the cement, as a solid finish to the stopper and as means for withdrawing it. I prefer to chamfer the stopper when completed, so as to make'it slightlytapering for a short distancein outside diameter at the open end, so that it maybe driven with facility, and I withdrawit by an instrument much like a hand-vice with serrated concave jaws, which are to be made to clasp the cap at the band where it is compressed into the wood. I intend to make the stopper at times of wood, bored through from end to end, and

insert a plug into the aperture, which plug may be of two diameters,

one small enough to enter the aperture, in

the wood, the other diameter large enough to extend to the periphery of the neck of bottle, this part being covered with a cap without a flange or a single piece of wood may be turned and bored so as to be of the same: form as last described, or the stopper may be made of a sheet of wood, rolled round a plug or of other material,

an equivalent therefore, for the purpose, and I intend at times to square the outside of the closed end of i the stopper, and drive onto t he square a circular disk of wood, with a square hole in it, this disk being oflarge diameter than the stopper, and covered with a cap and cement also, if desired, but in all casesthe stopper must be made of wood, and must be pr actically hermetically tight at the closed end, and so bored out, or hollo wed,

or formed with a hollow in it, that the pressure within the bottle shall act to compress the periphery 0i the stopper against the interior of the neck of the bottle, and so that the stopper may, when driven, be more easily compressible than if it were solid. Ihawe experimented with my stoppers on porter, ale, and soda-water bottles,, and find that they are perfectly safe, without wiring, or strapping, or fastening by means of twine; stoppers made aslabove described, are useful also for the purpose of stopping the muzzles of firearms.-

I claim as of my own invention I 1. A stopper made of hollow ,wood capped with metal, substantially such as described.

2, A stopper mztdeof hollow wood, capped with metal, with a, layer of material, substantially such as specified interposed between the Wood and the metal, the complete stopper being substantially such as described.

' NATHN THOMPSON.

Witnesses: J W I ggji gggg }Both of No. 17 Gracechurch Street, London, E. 0.

JOHN HARRISON, Notary Public, London. 

